Workshop Theme

Masers and dense molecular gas are associated with protostars (1--1000 AU) and with active galactic nuclei (0.1--100 pc). Such dense molecular emission regions provide powerful tools for understanding the activity of the central protostars and the central regions of active galaxies. Observations with high angular resolution and long term monitoring may be used for diagnosing the dynamics and the physics of these compact environments. Besides differences in scale-size and in power of the central activity, there are common links between observational results in proto-stars and galaxies. In this workshop, the interpretation of maser activity and phenomena of dense molecular gas will be discussed, in order to investigate whether the compact dense molecular materials around proto-stars and in galaxies serve as diagnostics tools for the fundamental dynamical and physical processes that control these regions and to identify similarities among these processes.